Minsk, Belarus, April 14, 2014– The teams of Minchanka Minsk and Pribuzhie Brest are
currently playing the Championship series of Belarus’ women’s national league.
The best-of-five final started over the weekend
with matches played
on Saturday and Sunday. Minchanka claimed the opening round (3-1) before Pribuzhie bounced back to score a 3-2 victory to tie the count.
Minchanka Minsk is the pre-favourite going into the finals but the team
mentored by Serbian-born coach Branislav Moro has been going through ups and
downs lately and could not impose their rule on the matches played over the
weekend.

As for Pribuzhie, the team from the city of Brest is back in
contention for the title after many years where it did not play a major role in
domestic competitions.

This season, however, a few experienced players have
joined forces with the club, with Aksana Kavalchuk – a long-time member of the
Belarusian national team – being their undisputed leader on as well as off the
court.
Minchanka, on the other hand, is anchored by the duo comprising home star
Ekaterina Skrabatun and Serbian wing-spiker Katarina Jovanovic.

On Sunday Minchanka lost the first and second set of their match with Pribuzhie
(17-25, 21-25) before they stormed back to win the third and fourth set (25-20, 25-23). The tie-break that
followed turned into a real drama with Minchanka’s coach Branislav Moro
receiving a red card before Brest could start their party after a 15-12 set
victory.

The Championship series will now continue on April 19-20 with two matches which
are due to take place in Brest.

The teams fighting for bronze have also shared victories at the end of the
first weekend, with Zhemchuzhina Polesia and Atlant Baranovichi now going to
prolong their rivalry on April 18-19 in Baranovichi.

The men’s national league is also approaching its end with four teams –
Stroitel Minsk, Kommunalnik Grodno, Bate-Bsu Borisov and Shakhtior Soligorsk –
still in contention for the title. The final stage will get started in Grodno
on April 18-20 but the winners will be known only after a second round robin
which is due to take place in Minsk on April 25-27 with matches to be broadcast
live on the sports channel Belarus-5.

Shakhtior Soligorsk is the team that
represented Belarus in this year’s Russian Superleague, while Stroitel made the
quarterfinals of the CEV Volleyball Challenge
Cup losing there to eventual winners Fenerbahce Grundig Istanbul of Turkey.